Introduction

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ANTITRUST AND ASSOCIATIONS

INTRODUCTION

This Handbook is intended to provide practical guidance on the

antitrust laws to people involved in trade and professional associations

and attorneys who counsel or represent associations or their members.

The antitrust laws of the United States are designed to preserve

competition by prohibiting monopolistic practices and agreements that

unreasonably restrict competition. In doing so, the antitrust laws define

certain boundaries of interaction between competitors, and among

buyers and sellers in the marketplace. Because trade and professional

associations are frequently associations of competitors or of customers

and suppliers, associations and their counsel must view the antitrust laws

and antitrust compliance through a somewhat different lens than the one

used when analyzing individual enterprise activities.

The antitrust laws do not stand as an obstacle to appropriate

association activities. Collaborations among members of trade and

professional associations are not only commonplace, but integral to the

U.S. economy. The courts and the antitrust enforcement agencies

recognize the intrinsic value of associations as a means for enhancing

competition, thereby contributing to the economy and the public interest.

Association activities run the gamut from collection and exchange of

information to standard-setting activities to establishing codesof

conduct to joint ventures in research and development or purchasing.

But although most of these collaborative business activities promote

efficiency and benefit consumers, some do not. For example, a

conspiracy to fix production volumes by trade association members—a

type of competitor collaboration—is clearly anticompetitive and illegal

under the antitrust laws. Standard setting can confermany pro-

competitive benefits but also can raise antitrust concerns in certain

situations.

Where the line lies between legal and illegal behavior and between

reasonable (procompetitive) and unreasonable (anticompetitive) conduct

is the focus of this Handbook. It is designed to provide a timely,

substantive, and practical guide to counselors desiring to minimize

antitrust risk and to educate associations and their members and

participants accordingly.